Kirkwood Tops First Practice in Detroit After Early Bump from Power

DETROIT (May 30, 2025) — Kyle Kirkwood bounced back from an early-session nudge to post the fastest lap in opening practice Friday for the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear.

Driving the No. 27 Siemens AWS Honda for Andretti Global, Kirkwood clocked a best lap of 1 minute, 1.7509 seconds around the nine-turn, 1.645-mile downtown Detroit street circuit during the 80-minute session. The lap came after an incident in traffic where he was bumped from behind by the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet of two-time series champion Will Power.

“I don’t know,” Kirkwood said after the session. “Everyone goes slow around here. The track’s not big enough to fit all the cars, and he got frustrated. Whatever, I guess. I’m not upset. I don’t care. We’re P1.”

Power offered his own interpretation: “I came around, and he slowed up in the middle and made contact. So, I thought, ‘Well, I may as well get a gap now,’ so I just pushed him past the car in front, just moved him out of the way and got a really nice gap.”

Scott McLaughlin, rebounding from a crash before the green flag at the Indianapolis 500 last Sunday, finished second quickest in the No. 3 TireRack.com Team Penske Chevrolet with a lap of 1:02.0301. Power ended the session third at 1:02.3862.

Team Penske put all three of its cars in the top four, as Josef Newgarden slotted in fourth at 1:02.4819 in the No. 2 Astemo Chevrolet. Christian Lundgaard rounded out the top five at 1:02.6047 in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.

Series points leader and Indy 500 winner Alex Palou finished 15th fastest at 1:03.0381 in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, after locking up in a braking zone and briefly missing a corner.

Defending race winner and six-time champion Scott Dixon ended the session 18th at 1:03.0985 in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda.

DETROIT NOTES:

• The next NTT INDYCAR SERIES practice session begins at 9 a.m. ET Saturday, followed by qualifying for the NTT P1 Award at noon (FS1, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network).
• Sunday’s 100-lap race begins at 12:30 p.m. ET (FOX, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network).

INDY NXT: Hauger Sets the Pace

Earlier Friday, championship leader Dennis Hauger topped the opening practice for INDY NXT by Firestone with a lap of 1:06.8158 in the No. 28 Andretti Global entry. Despite mid-session issues limiting his track time, Hauger surged to the top on his final lap.

“We were having some issue in the middle of practice, which wasn’t ideal,” Hauger said. “But we still found good pace. Getting laps was the most important thing with a new track.”

Caio Collet, Max Taylor, Myles Rowe, and Salvador de Alba rounded out the top five.

The session saw multiple incidents, including heavy contact for Andretti’s James Roe in Turn 7 and a crash for Liam Sceats in Turn 4. No injuries were reported.

GRID PENALTIES: Ganassi and Rahal Teams Penalized

INDYCAR also announced six-position starting grid penalties for the No. 9 Chip Ganassi Racing and No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing entries for unapproved engine changes prior to the Indianapolis 500. The penalties will be served during Sunday’s race in Detroit.

The post Kirkwood Tops First Practice in Detroit After Early Bump from Power first appeared on The Bloomingtonian.